Interested in making a
Legacy Gift?
To help meet the needs of children growing up in developing nations, International Samaritan is pleased to partner with the Catholic Foundation of Michigan to provide opportunities for people to honor a loved one and to make a difference that will last forever.
See our first Endowed Scholarship below.
The Asdrubal Barroso Medical Scholarship
To provide a medical or nursing school scholarship to a student in need from Nicaragua
In memory of Dr. John Vincent
Asdrubal Barroso
2004 – 2021
At the age of nine, Asdrubal stopped going to school and started working in the garbage dump in Managua, Nicaragua alongside his dad. They labored together for almost a year. But Asdrubal wanted more. One day, he saw Kevin Lopez, International Samaritan’s team leader in Nicaragua, in the village and approached him, saying, “I heard you’re the guy who helps kids. Can you help me? I want to go to school.”
Kevin spent some time talking with Asdrubal and could see immense potential in him. He was quite curious and wanted to be a doctor one day. Soon after that conversation, Kevin enrolled Asdrubal in our Paso a Paso scholarship program so that he could begin attending school again, this time in a private, Catholic school, where he excelled for the last three years.
Asdrubal’s mom worked in a small bakery in the village, and he began working with her every day after school. Whenever he saw Kevin, he would call out to him, “Come, have some Cuban coffee with us!” And then Asdrubal’s mom would give Kevin a piece of bread while the three had coffee together, and Asdrubal would pepper Kevin with questions, trying to speak to him in English, about things he was learning in class.
The kids on the local baseball team in Villa Guadalupe always wanted Asdrubal to play on their team because he was from Cuba, and “we all think Cubans are good at baseball,” Kevin told me. While he couldn’t join the team because of his work, Asdrubal played with them often and made good friends in Nicaragua.
In January of 2021, Asdrubal cried out to his mom because of the pain that was searing in his belly. She took him immediately to the local hospital and instinctively knew that his appendix may have burst. But he never got to see a doctor. COVID has returned to Managua with a vengeance, and the hospital’s waiting room was filled with people hoping to be seen. He died that afternoon from peritonitis in a chair in the hospital’s hallway.
Dr. John Vincent
1919 – 2004
“As my Dad often said, there was no more unlikely candidate for medical school than him. He grew up in a small town in South Dakota during the depression, getting a meager education and losing his father at age four. A priest, Fr. Boyd, who was a family friend, served as his surrogate father. My Dad went on to become one of the first cardiovascular surgeons in the Detroit area, studying while supporting 8 (later 12) children. He healed his own pain from the loss of his father by healing the pain of others. He lived humbly and with the constant recognition that faith, luck, the kindess of others, and dogged determination to achieve your dreams can change the course of your life.”
~ Mary Vincent
Daughter of Dr. John Vincent
This scholarship, in memory of Dr. John Vincent, was established by his daughter, Mary Vincent, to help more young people like Asdrubal become doctors one day.
Interested in setting up your own Legacy Gift?
Contact Tucker Rossmaessler, our Manager of Donor Relations, using the form below.
About Us
International Samaritan is a nonprofit organization with the designation 501(c)(3). Our headquarters is located in Ann Arbor Michigan.
